Nightlife

We’ve been going on about this place for half a year now, but the mysterious “B-​Side” is almost ready to open on W 51st St.

A quick rundown: way back in June of last year, we saw plans filed for Vynl to relocate to its new home next door. Later on though, the name “B-​Side” started being used, leading us to believe that rather than Vynl moving, they would instead be opening a second spot next door under that name. When the plywood eventually came down, however, we found what we have today, with Vynl in the new spot, and the old spot closed.

It looked like B-​Side had been forgotten altogether, but turns out it was still moving ahead, just not in that store. The place is actually opening up just around the corner on 51 St, past the little wine bar there.

Anyway, enough words, here’s the photos:

The place looks a lot more upscale and “fancy” than Vynl, so should be an interesting contrast to its other half. There’s signs up on the windows saying opening in September, so not long to go!

(And it probably doesn’t need explaining, but in case you don’t get the name: “B-​Side” is on the back of “Vynl”…)

B-Side

Incoming

358 W 51st St

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Saturday, Aug 23rd

Lots of events on today, making the most of the last few weekends of summer. We’ll get straight into them:

On right now over at Pier 84 (next to the Intrepid) the 15th annual Hudson River Park’s Blues BBQ Festival is happening. The event has a number of top American blues and roots musicians performing alongside three top BBQ restaurants from around the city. It’ll be on all afternoon, with the last performer taking the stage at 7:30pm.

Once you’ve had enough BBQ and music, right next door on the deck of the Intrepid the first of three Astronomy Nights at the Intrepid Museum is on. Running from 7:30pm to 10:30pm, the night will feature a number of local astronomers with high-​powered telescopes showing the night, as well as talks and demonstrations throughout the museum. Tonight is significant because Saturn and Mars will apparently be very close together in the sky, so should be an interesting sight. The night is free, requiring online registration to attend, but the site still says “registration coming soon”, so your guess is as good as ours… It’ll also be on again in two weeks, and again another two weeks after that.

Alternatively if astronomy isn’t your thing, there’s another food-​related festival on tonight. If there’s one thing 9th Ave is known for (other than roadwork) it’s Thai food, so tonight’s Thaithentic Food & Culture Festival should be popular, bringing together over 30 Thai restaurants, as well as other Thai brands and vendors. It’s $45 for admission at 8pm, which gets you samplings of food from the range of vendors there, as well as access to the open bar. Alternatively, $70 buys a VIP ticket, which gives you early access at 7pm, as well as access to the VIP lounge. It’s all happening inside the Atelier building on W 42nd St, between 10th&11th Aves, so not to far from the other things on over by the river.

The show tonight will be a “special interactive social media performance” named The Internet is for Q!, and the audience is encouraged to live-​tweet throughout the show. That may or may not sound like your kind of thing, but if it is, you can get in for just $11 (plus fees, of course…) Tickets are normally $75-$115, so it’s a pretty good deal.

You can get the $11 tickets from Broad​way​Of​fers​.com, or by phone or at the box office, with the discount code AQTWEET40.

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This year’s Summer Movie Series at the Intrepid are reaching the halfway point, with tonight screening the fourth of the series of seven movies. Tonight’s movie is The Hunt for Red October, so you can spread out on the deck of the Intrepid and watch Sean Connery and a young Alec Baldwin, just a few yards from a real submarine (authentic!)

As always, doors open a 7:30pm, but you’ll probably want to get there early to get a spot in the line. And the weather’s looking fine for tonight, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it being cancelled.

Intrepid Air & Space Museum

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Saturday, Jul 26th

Tomorrow night Dance Manhattan– a Chelsea-​based dance studio – are holding a free Jazz/​Swing Moon Dance over on Pier 84, next to the Intrepid. Turns out it’s been on for the past two Sunday nights as well and just slipped by us. It’ll also be on for two more weeks after tomorrow so we’re not too late.

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Tuesday, Jul 22nd

The newest addition to the 9th Ave bar scene has arrived, with The Jolly Monk bringing Belgian beers and meals to the area. We first heard of the place back in April, so it’s been a quick process getting the place together.

While the place has been up and running for about a week, their official grand opening celebrations are happening next Friday, August 1st, where they’ll have discounts, free appetizers and tastings of their range of craft beers, including nine imported from Belgium:

The place is from the New York Beer Company on W 44th St, who also are behind the two House of Brews in the area, so they know the neighborhood well. After all the dramas with Traffic here before, it’s good to have someone who’s a little more invested in the community in that prominent spot. We’ll see you at the opening party.

The Jolly Monk

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Friday, Jul 18th

Room 53, a new café and bar on W 53rd St, has just opened this week. The new place – in between the comedy club and recent addition Marston Station– looks like it’ll have a pretty casual atmosphere, and in addition to the not-​yet-​online food menu will be serving “speciality” coffee, wines and beer.

Lucky Cheng's

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Tuesday, Apr 22nd

It’s been a long time coming, but the expansion of Vynl is finally here. We’ve gone from expecting this to be a completely separate new spot, to being just an extension of Vynl, but it turns out the whole “original” store is now closed – hopefully temporarily – and the new side is the way forward:

Anyway, the new place definitely “feels” a lot busier – the separation between the bar and the dining area the old place had is completely gone, so that might be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re into. Also no word on the fate of the musician dolls lining the walls of the old place… It’s a whole new Vynl.

Vynl

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Saturday, Apr 12th

After the big ordeal of the former Traffic Bar being repossessed, the huge spot on the corner of 48th&9th has finally got a new tenant inbound. Going by “The Jolly Monk”, it’s probably safe to say it’ll be some form of bar, although we don’t know too much else about the place… From what we can tell it’ll be run by the same people behind New York Beer Company on W 44th St, so expect something similar (craft beers and microbreweries are safe assumptions).

B-Side

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Saturday, Apr 5th

After a month of renovations, Mr Biggs– at the corner of 43rd&10th– is set to reopen tomorrow. The place has been covered in plywood for a while while the renovations were underway, so it’ll be interesting to see what emerges from underneath:

Mr Biggs

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Tuesday, Mar 18th

The latest bar + restaurant in the area opened this weekend, with Jasper’s Taphouse arriving on the corner of 51st&9th. The new spot has a wide selection of beers (as you’d expect from the name), as well as food options. We’ve been keeping an eye on the place for a while now, but it was hiding behind plywood right up until the week of the opening, so the detail that’s gone into the place came as a surprise.

The place used to be yet-​another-​Thai-​restaurant Chanpen, which closed its doors almost six months ago, making way for Jasper’s. It sounds like their first weekend went very well, so we can expect to see them here for a long time to come.